


Climbing the Dark

by imademon



Category: The Umbrella Academy, The Umbrella Academy (Comics), Umbrella Academy
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 00:44:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17777327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imademon/pseuds/imademon
Summary: Diego finds Klaus climbing Ben's memorial statue and goes to check on him.





	Climbing the Dark

Klaus had fallen over drunk or high more times than anyone could count, but it was a fall he had the night after Reginald Hargreeves' funeral that bothered Diego the most.

It was nearly dusk and Diego was pacing the hall tossing his knife up over and over trying to work off the almost fatal level of nerves he'd built up over the day. He thought he heard someone cry out and flipped his head to look out the window. There was Klaus, on the ground in front of Ben's statue. Diego sighed, and stood there a few minutes watching his lost brother try to climb Ben's statue, wondering whether he should intervene. After all, who among the Hargreeves weren't utterly lost? Sometimes Diego wondered if their dead brother was the only one who finally wasn't. A thought of many that would be hotly contested by a few of the others.

It was Klaus' second fall that convinced Diego to go out, worried that he'd make it farther up before the next fall and break his neck. He wasn't letting him off that easy. 

He was back at it by the time Diego got out there, slipping and fumbling and swearing every second.  
"Klaus, what the fuck are you doing?" He grumbled.

"What was that?" Klaus asked and turned his torso to see Diego, causing him to lose his grip yet again and land at his other brother's feet, "oh son of a bitch!" he whined.

"I said what the fuck do you think you're doing out here, man? Trying to commune with the dead?" Diego extended his hand to help Klaus up, who was chuckling awkwardly with a somewhat distressed look on his face.

"Yeah, very funny haha. Let's joke about Klaus seeing dead people, not like that is older and deader than dad. No, I was just getting some exercise in, you know. Since there aren't many mountains around here for climbing." He said, examining a few scrapes on his arms from the tumbles. 

"Yeah, my brother the avid mountain climber!" Diego burst into the first genuine laugh since he'd gotten to the house, probably longer. He put his hand on Klaus' shoulder and squeezed.

Klaus made eye contact with Diego and chuckled too, nodding his head.

"Not that I don't have it in me, it's just that there's so many things I'd rather be doin'."

"Yeah, that's been my thought all day. I'd give anything not to be here pretendng to mourn that man but... I know mom needs me here." Diego said, looking up at a window where Grace was looking on. He'd known she was there several minutes before. Always worrying about her boys.

"Think she'll ask what I was doing out here?" Klaus asked, looking up at the window too and giving a wave with his fingers.

"She might, but doubt she'll press. She knows how close you and Ben were. That and with all the other shit we've dealt with today, and your general demeanor...doubt she's even that surprised."

"Right, good. Well then I'll let you head back to whatever you were doing and I'll get back to it." Klaus said, patting Diego on the shoulder, turning to Ben's memorial and putting a foot into a crook to stabilize himself. 

Before he could get any farther, Diego grabbed him and pulled him backwards. He was able to steady him before he wound up on the ground again, but Klaus still looked stunned. 

"I know I usually let you do your thing but I have just decided I have a funeral quota and on top of that, a bullshit quota. Both are filled, so I'm gonna need you to come inside and maybe we can use one of Luther's bags for knife throwing.' Diego smirked. Just as Diego had his low quotas for certain things, he knew Klaus had a quota for mischief. And it was high.

"Well, if you say so." Klaus sighed and threw his arms up dramatically. But he followed Diego into the house, both of them a little less alone for the moment.


End file.
